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How to Answer the Interview Question Tell Me About Yourself?

Interview Answer for the Interview Question“Tell Me About Yourself”

An interviewer almost always starts off by asking you to tell him about yourself, like an overview about what kind of a person you are.

The question is, most of us get this question wrong and it’s actually the question that sets up the tone for the rest of the interview.

Depending on what you answer, the rest of the interview will carry on from there. What you don’t know is that there are actually a lot of secret and hidden meanings hidden behind every word you say.

This question is designed in such a way as to provoke you into speaking up about yourself. No, the interviewer is not interested in asking about your personality or life story. What she actually wants to know about are your work ethics and how you behave professionally, not to mention what achievements you’ve made and how much experience and dedication you have.

The art to pass any interview is to appear confident and dedicated in your work. You need to show promise and sell yourself. Here are a few ways you can rehearse and answer this question in a well-mannered way.

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Focus on your strengths

First things first, what are your core strengths? What is your experience, the level of your skills, your best traits, and your winning points?

Mention skills you’re proud of and use strong words to make yourself sound different from the tens of candidates competing for the same position.

Conduct a suitable S.W.O.T analysis about yourself because you’re sure to be asked about each category in general; your strengths, weaknesses, the opportunities you’re hoping for, and the flaws which you know you have and need to work and improve upon.

The interviewer would be on high alert looking for any trait which poses a threat to the organization in your interview, so it’s better if you know about them beforehand and try not to let them show.

Follow a Script

Just in case you don’t forget the important points you came up with, design a script and write all the things you wish to discuss yourself and the pattern in which you should bring them up ideally.

Don’t swallow your script whole and recite like a robot in your interview. You don’t want to appear memorized in front of your potential employer.

The pattern you come up with should have a systematic pattern about your past experience and your accomplishments.

You can cover your weaknesses in a smart way by stating the measures you took to overcome them and how they made you a better person. After that, you can tell where you are currently and your responsibilities, your skills, and your qualities which can be beneficial to the organization.

End it by a well–versed speech about what you wish to do in the future and how you’re looking forward to the company to help you achieve your goals. Give importance and the impression to the fact that you’re willing to stay long-term with the company and you’ll also commit to them and stay loyal.

Interview questions and answers

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Practice till you’re Confident

It is a well-known fact that a nervous candidate on average spends about forty-five minutes going over an interview. Think about it this way. The job you’re applying for may very well affect your whole life and decide where you go from there. So basically, you’re spending less than an hour practicing for a job which can decide your whole career.

Remember, you’ll only stay confident as long as you have had enough practice about what you wish to emphasize about yourself and how quick of a learner you are. You need to learn to manage how to cover your weaknesses by reiterating the ways which help you become a better professional and how best you manage the things under your responsibility. Stress about your previous successes like how you are extremely deadline-compliant and how you have benefited the areas you have worked on by giving your input to the field.

Think of yourself as a product that needs to be marketed and how you can make it sell. What do you do when you pitch a concept or idea? You highlight all the benefits of your strategy or product, cover up any gaps by talking smoothly about how they can be overcome, and then you make your clients value it by making them understand how much better their lives will be if they incorporate your idea and what they’re missing out on.

Even if your interview didn’t start off with this question, it’s still useful to practice and knows about your self-worth and what you have to offer to the company. It’s not just for this question, but it’ll also help you answer the other questions asked in your interview. The main focus in an interview is you.

About the Author:

Rebecca Katharine is pursuing her PhD degree from the well-known university of California. Rebecca is serving in the capacity of assistant professor in the same university and also provides dissertation writing service online for university-level students & private tuitions at the school level.

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Interview Question What Do You Know About This Company?

What Do You Know About This Company?

Interview Question Help.

What Do You Know About This Company? Interview Question

This article will teach you how to answer the interview question ” What Do You Know About This Company?”

This is the most commonly asked interview question which is asked at the interview start, so it goes without saying that you need a well-rehearsed answer, as this will increase your interview confidence from the start of the job interview.

The trick to passing job interviews is to predict the interview question and to prepare a killer interview answer.

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What do you know about this organisation?

Often one of the first questions you will be asked during the interview, employers want employees who will stay with the company, this question and answer will show the employer that you know the company’s history and feel they will be a good employer to work for.

It also shows the employer that you think ahead and carries out research.

Answer this question with:

  • The length the organisation has been operating for.
  • How the company started
  • What services/products the company offers
  • Where they are going (have they won any new contracts)

All this information is normally found on the internet; on the company home page or about us page.

Example Interview Answer

“I know a great deal about your organisation, before I applied for the job position I researched the company.

I really like how the company started as a partnership company 10 years ago and has grown to a company of 70 staff working throughout 18 countries.

You started by operating in a niche market and have now expanded this to working in several areas of the same sector this highlights creatively and forward planning, this was one of the reasons why I applied for the position”

Interview Video Tutorial – what do you know about this company?

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The 3 Interview Questions Everyone Struggles to Answer

Interviews are hard. They become harder when the job interviewer ask hard interview questions that everyone struggles to answer.

We have found the 3 common interview questions that most interviewees struggle to answer and provided you with an interview answer.

Tell me what you feel your biggest weakness is?

The question is designed to get you to answer negatively. The reason people fail job interviews is because the interview as a whole has highlighted their short comings.

To pass the job interview you need to frame each interview answer in the positive, especially the “weakness” question.

Preparation is key for this question. Write a list of weaknesses, as an example – you don’t work well when working alone.

Next to each weakness, write down the positive of this weakness. With the above example, not being able to work alone, the positive is that you are a team player.

Finally frame this positive into an interview question answer. “I am more productive working with in team than as an independent worker, within a team I able to motivate other members of staff to A, B and C (selling points) …”

Describe a bad experience you have encountered with a past employer?’

It is tempting to answer this question with “I have never had a bad experience with a past employer” but the employer wants to hear more then a simple commonly used answer.

This question is asked to see how you approach a situation when you disagree with a manager. To answer this question split your answer into 3 parts

  1. The situation
  2. Your solution
  3. The outcome

Explain the situation – the reason for a disagreement IE your manger suggested using one approach for a project and you suggested a different approach

Solution – explain how you came to an understanding/solved the problem

Outcome – give the positive outcome; how this effected the business/project/profits/business relationships/etc

Give an example of your lateral thinking.

Lateral thinking is in essence thinking out of the box, being creative and using your intuition.

Similar to the last question; explain the problem, tell the employer how you use your creativity and give the solution to the problem/outcome.

Employers will only ask this question if lateral thinking is an essential criteria for the advertised position

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Next Job Interview Answers

Job Interview Questions and Answers for Next Retail

The Next company job interview is relatively easy and delivered in a laid-back fashion. Often the first interview round is via telephone, followed by an in-store assessment and traditional interview.

As well as being asked the below job interview questions applicants are normally asked to ‘pick out an outfit for a customer’ It is a focus on customer service skills that will result in a job offer.

NEXT clothing retail interview competitiveness

Type of NEXT job Interview

Informal job interview lasts around 30 minutes with 6 questions being asked

NEXT retail job interview questions and answers

  • Job Interview Question 1: What is your experience in retail?

“I have over X years of experience in retail, my career highlights are A, B, and C (give lots of detail and selling points) I have always enjoyed working in retail and long term I am keen to progress in Next clothing and move into management roles”

    • Job Interview Question 2: How would you handle a customer complaint?

“In my previous roles, I have worked on the customer service desk where I was responsible for dealing with complaints. An example of this was when (give a real-life example of when you turned around a complaint) ”

    • Job Interview Question 3: What would you do if a customer order hadn’t arrived and they desperately needed the item?

“For me, customer service is key for customer retention. I always do my best to support customers. This situation happened to me recently. To support the customer I first checked if we had the item the customer had purchased in the stock room because we hadn’t I rang around other stores and sent a courier to deliver to the customer’s address. This pleased the customer and she ended up spending more money in the store”

      • Job Interview Question 4: How would you deal with busy periods when customers just literally want to get in and out?

“In my last role, I worked in a really busy store and many customers were wanting to come in and buy goods rather than shop around. I had the idea of approaching customers with an iPad to check if we had the goods in-store. This was a real success of the idea was rolled out across all stores”

  • Job Interview Question 5: If you were due to go home and you were supporting a customer what would you do?

“I’m a very customer-focused person. If a customer needs my support I will work with them until they have finished shopping. As an example, when I was working for (company name) I was at the end of my shift when a customer asked for support. I (add actions) and supported the customer with their request.”

  • Job Interview Question 6: Have you ever dealt with a rude customer? What did you do?

“Yes on the customer service desk I worked on I would deal with rude customers each day, but I was very good at calming customers down and resolving their issues. An example was (give a real example with a positive outcome)”

  • Job Interview Question 7: Why do you want to work for Next retail?

“As a next customer, I enjoy the atmosphere in next, plus I like the style of clothing. For me, I want to sell goods that I believe in and because I love the next brand and wear the clothes myself I would find it easy to sell these garments to customers”

    • Job Interview Question 8: Do you have any questions to ask me?

Good interview questions to ask interviewers at the end of the job interview include questions on the company’s growth or expansion, questions on personal development and training, and questions on company values, staff retention, and company achievements.

  • Have you seen an impact on in-shop customers with an increase in online buying?
  • What are the busy times of the year?
  • Who is Next biggest competitor?

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How to Answer the Job Interview Question What has disappointment you about a previous job?

What has disappointed you about a previous job?

Explanation of the Question:

Again we always need to stay away from any negative answers. Start with a positive and follow this up with why you’re looking for a new role. This keeps your answer positive.

Example Interview Answer

“I have enjoyed all my jobs and with every new job, I gain new skills and confidence. Currently, I am looking for a new role, not because I’m disappointed but more because I want a bigger challenge, more responsibility, etc”

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Interview Question and Answer If you could, would you retire right now?

Interview Question and Answer “If you could, would you retire right now?”

The job interviewer is keen to recruit an employee who is passionate about the job, not simply just looking for work to gain a salary.

This job interview question “if you could, would you retire right now?” is a sneaky question to check your work ethic.

If you state to the interviewer, that you would retire as soon as possible, the employer knows that you are not committed to the role.

Whereas the interviewee who explains how they enjoy the work and how for them the job isn’t just about a salary but is about doing something you love, the employer is more likely to recruit you.

Video Explanation

 

Explanation of the Job Interview Question:

With all interview questions, be honest with your answer if you would say “yes..” then either, follow this up with some details on what you would do, it is good to laugh when answering this question and turn it into a light-hearted piece of banter.

Example Interview Answer

“…as I enjoy work I would either work part-time or volunteer…”   or   “but, as I need to work, I want to work in an industry I enjoy, like this one”  

See the video above for additional job interview answers.

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How To Answer The Interview Question What kind of person would you refuse to work with?

Start by explaining how you get on well with everyone, and then stop to think.

Carry on by saying you would not want to work with someone who was violent or someone who was lazy.

“I always get on well everyone I meet, I am often told how friendly and approachable I am. I like to give everyone a chance but I wouldn’t like to work with someone who is violent or lazy”

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Structuring Your Interview Answers

Once you receive your Interview Invitation, you still have work to do, the first being to practice answering tricky interview questions. T

o do this you need to know what type of interview questions you will be asked, you can read 101 Interview Questions and I would add what is even more important  then knowing the interview questions is knowing how to structure your interview answer.

To gain an insight into the specific question you will be asked, re-read the job specification that came with your job application pack.

All the Essential Skills, Knowledge and Experiences on the job specification will be turn into interview questions this is because the employer feels that their new employee needs the required knowledge or experiences to fit in at the level the company is operating at.

The key to passing job interviews is Communication, the employer needs to understand what you are trying to communicate to them; communication is not about what you are saying, it’s about what the other person interprets what you are saying which means you need to structure you interview answer in such a way that employer has no doubt you can do the specific part of the job that the interview question related to.

Answering Interview Questions

You may be asked direct interview questions; what, where, why, who or competency-based questions; give me an example, describe a time when you, summaries your previous role and duties

It’s not about the type of question you are asked it’s about how you structure your answer which means you need to know how to answer interview questions.

I would add you need your answer to come across loud and clear by delivering 3 key pieces of information per answer, any more then this can confuse the interviewers mind, as the brain can find it hard to remember a large amount of information in one go.

Start by answering the question in the first sentence                      

Q: Are you a good team player?

A: Yes I am a good team player, in my last position I worked in team environment throughout the project…

Q: What is your knowledge of diversity and equal opportunities regulations?

A: I possess a deep understanding of diversity and equal opportunity regulations; I find it really important to keep unto date with changes to regulations…

Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

A: I am really keen to turn this position into a career, in 5 years time I will have a full understanding of the job sector and will be applying for a promotion within this organisation.

Q: Describe a situation where you dealt with an angry customer.

A: In my last position I would work on the complaints department every Monday and would often come across “angry” customers; I was always able to quickly calm customers down and resolve their issues by…

Next, add a little more detail – this should intrigue the employer and hit several of the job specifications essential criteria

  • Give an overview of the situation – In many cases this is done when you answer the question in your first sentence.
  • Explain any “problems” or “barriers” you had to face and overcome “the company had never had a contract like this before” “sales had started to drop, so the manger asked me to join the team..”
  • Explain what YOU did “I was responsible for..” “I took initiative..” “it was my idea to…”
  • Explain the positive outcome from your actions; where possible quote figures and percentages or give third-person feedback “this led to an increase in sales by 35%” “the team manager fed back that this resulted in an increase in company shares”

Finally, summaries by referring back to the question (this can also come across as you thinking of your answer on the spot, not using a prepared answer)

  • “Does that example highlight the team player skills you are looking for?”
  • “I have a wide range of knowledge of diversity and equal opportunity regulations, would you like me to quote any more?”
  • “Overall I am happy to stay in this company and work my way up the career ladder”
  • “To summaries, I have come across a wide range of angry customers, but once you know how to calm and resolve their issues you increase your customer retention”

As you can see from the 4 examples above, some of the summaries end with a question; this is a great additional trick to check if you have hit the interviewer’s required points to their question.

If you have you often hear “Yes that was a nice answer” or “I think we have covered everything” if you haven’t you will often be told “I was looking for an example when you X” you can then give a new example covering X or the interviewer may ask you a second but more specific question.